On Day 3 of the Ranchi Test, Rohit Sharma was looking for his last two England wickets and was at his most expressive. With India aiming to win the series and seal the deal, Rohit had spinners Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravichandran Ashwin on both ends. But in one of the overs, Sarfaraz Khan was fielding deep when Rohit called for him to move from long on to silly mid-off. Although the young batsman heeded his captain's call, he chose to take a significant risk.
It happened in the 47th over of the game. Sarfaraz decided he would field close in without donning a helmet, thus Kuldeep had to wait to bowl the fourth ball. Rohit approached him while he was trying to persuade his captain, emphasizing how dangerous it would be and cautioning him against making a serious error was also at this point that umpire Kumar Dharmasena intervened, telling the players that fielding at close quarters requires the use of a helmet.
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"Oye, hero nahi banne ka," was something you might hear Rohit utter. Not having to be a hero. Please take no chances when fielding at that position. Put on your helmet. Sarfaraz was even informed of this by the umpire, Karthik stated in the commentary.
Earlier, Sarfaraz had already claimed two wickets: first, at short leg, where he assisted Ashwin in getting rid of Ben Duckett for the first wicket for England; second, diving forward at mid-on, he managed to hold onto a misplaced loft from Tom Hartley off Kuldeep's bowling. Nonetheless, fielding at short leg without a helmet is essentially a brain fade, regardless of how intense and quick he was on the field. Recall how Rohit responded "Yes, I will" when Naushad, Sarfaraz's father, asked the India captain to look after his son? Apparently, Rohit kept his word.
When Indian cricketer Raman Lamba was hit in the head by a pull shot in 1998, the world lost him. Fielding at short leg without a helmet on, Lamba took a blow, went into a coma, and finally passed away from the impact.
Tomorrow, India is expected to win the series.
After being called upon by Rohit, Ashwin gave India the two wickets they needed, removing Ben Foakes and James Anderson in the same over to reward the captain's faith. With the help of those two blows, Ashwin achieved his 35th career five-wicket haul in Test cricket and tied Anil Kumble in the same number of innings. Truly legendary company.
India was given a target of 192 runs after Ashwin's 5/51 and Kuldeep Yadav's 4/22 knocked England for 145 in the second innings. India has accelerated to 40/0 with Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring quickly to give the squad an incredible start. India leads the series 2-1 already. Rohit scored 1000 runs against England and 4000 Test runs during this partnership.
The fact that India is poised to win the series tomorrow is also largely down to Dhruv Jurel, a 23-year-old who has been a huge asset to the team. In just his second Test match, Jurel hit his first-ever fifty and finished first with ninety, helping India move up from 177/7 to 307.
Summary: While he was trying to persuade his captain, Rohit approached him and cautioned him against making a serious error, outlining the dangers. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena intervened at that point as well, telling the players that fielding in close quarters requires the use of a helmet.
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